Rabies: A Reality

An unusual fax report came into the clinic the other day. Rarely do individual small animal veterinarians get contacted by the Illionis Department of Agriculture. The fax contained information about a bovine (bull) that was diagnosed with rabies in Macon county (Decatur area) last week. After a recent newspaper article questioning the seriousness of the State of Illinois Department of Agriculture and Dept. of Public Health protocol with human- animal contacts (bite or wound serious enough to require medical attention), I felt a brief review of human rabies infection was needed. Rabies viral infection has the highest fatality rate of any infectious disease if no post exposure (bite/serious wound) treatment is given. Post exposure treatment before clinical illness involves wound cleaning, innoculation with Rabies immunoglobulins, and four doses of the human Rabies vaccine. To date, no specific treatment of rabies in humans has been successful once signs of illness are present. Since 2000, there has been 31 cases of human rabies in the United States. Human exposure to Rabies virus is in the form of a bite or contact (serious wound) of an infected animal (any mammal). The best preventative is limit our exposure to abnormal acting wildlife and vaccinating our pets who share our homes. Vaccination of cats and dogs is the best way to protect them from getting Rabies virus from wildlife- how many dogs have been in a fight with a wild animal, sprayed by a skunk, chased a stray cat? Or a housecat finding an ill bat indoors or if allowed out, into a fight with unknown wildlife? In Illinois, the historic reservoir for the virus has been skunks. Abnormally acting skunks should be avoided and reported to Animal Control as soon as possible. In 2010, there were 115 animals that tested positive for Rabies virus in the state of Illinois. That year, all animals tested positive were bats, including 2 in Peoria county. As a general rule, any strange acting wildlife (lack of fear of humans, aggressive behavior, salivation, staggering, and daytime movement of a normally nocturnal animal) need to be avoided by humans and their pets, and Animal Control (Peoria County Animal Protection Society) should be contacted.
Once again, all pets that share our lives and homes should be vaccinated for Rabies to protect them from infection, and therefore decreasing human exposure. More humans are bitten yearly by dogs and cats (sometimes their own) than bitten by wildlife.